Genius Chapter 32: Innkeeper

Chapter 32: Innkeeper

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

CloudTraveller explained his statement, “When we brought the delicate woman’s health down to 50%, two delicate women appeared on the field, possessing the same skills, and both bosses were at 50% health.”

Upon hearing this news, Yu Zhen furrowed his brow abruptly. He was about to ask for more details when CloudTraveller suddenly went silent. It seemed like he had sent the warning amidst their busy fight, indicating they were probably still in the midst of challenging the two bosses.

He immediately informed the team of this development, and for a moment, silence fell upon the team.

Two people were already frozen on the field, the DPS output cycle hadn’t stopped, but the sudden news disrupted everyone’s rhythm. Should they continue fighting?

“Allow me to swear,” ClearWind said.

“We have ladies in the team, bro, mind your language,” ScarletFruit reminded.

“This thing is called a delicate woman, and even a sturdy guy like me feels weaker than she does!” ClearWind couldn’t help but complain, “She can heal back to full health at 50%, and now there are two bosses. How are we supposed to deal with this? And how do we handle the frenzy at the end? Even with 10 DPS, it’s impossible to deal with her. This difficulty is just insane.”

Apple asked, “Should we continue fighting, or wait for more information?”

“Continue,” Su Mo said calmly, “Watch out for the next wave of snowfall. ClearWind, as soon as the ice is removed, immediately activate your protective skill. The healers won’t have time to heal you.”

If the snowfall buff stacked to the maximum, it would turn people into ice sculptures, essentially pausing the event and causing a fake death for 3 minutes. Once the status was removed, all snowfall buffs would be cleared, entering a weakened state for a few seconds. Without healing, it would be easy to die.

“Is it you, Apple? Are you secretly watching me?”

After the team dodged the snowfall, they quickly moved to remove the shackles from Apple. However, at this moment, Su Mo furrowed his brow deeply. Under precise coordination, as long as the whole team dodged the snowfall CDs and removed the shackles in time, they could pass this stage. So, it was understandable that the boss healing back added difficulty, but having two bosses was a bit strange.

If the second boss was this difficult, how hard would the final boss be? There were two points of doubt: why was the boss called a delicate woman, and what was the mechanism behind the boss’s shackles? The snowfall occurred every 20 seconds, and enhancement occurred every 10% health after 60%. These were known mechanisms, but there were no hints about the boss’s shackles.

‘Is it you? Are you secretly watching me?’

The first part was a question, and the second part was an affirmation. Who was watching the boss? Su Mo tried closing his eyes, but the boss continued to call out. That meant this “watching” wasn’t nominal; it had to be watching stealthily.

So, it wasn’t watching the boss herself, but seeing something on the boss. Su Mo focused his attention on the boss herself. The delicate woman wore shackles and seemed injured, even when attacked by other players, she still maintained her weak appearance, with a pitiful gaze. Even when retaliating, she lifted the shackles weakly.

From what he observed, the most targeted were ClearWind and the ranged professions… that meant… He suddenly noticed something.

“Is it you, Momo? Are you secretly watching me?”

Su Mo suddenly realized!

No need for further explanation, the rest of the team quickly rushed over to help Su Mo break the shackles, returning to their original positions. However, Su Mo calmly spoke up at this point, “Except for the two assassins, everyone else, don’t look at her hands when the boss raises them to strike back.”

“What?” ClearWind suddenly looked up and happened to meet the boss’s hand. “Oh crap!! She has an eye drawn on her hand.”

“Is it you, ClearWindIsHere? Are you secretly watching me?”

“Help!!” ClearWind cried out.

“Oh,” Su Mo said indifferently, “Didn’t I tell you not to look?”

“I couldn’t help it,” ClearWind struggled, “You said not to look, so my eyes automatically looked!”

When the delicate woman raised her shackles, her sleeves would slide down, revealing black patterns on the wrist cuffs. The patterns were similar in color to the shackles, not easily noticed unless carefully examined. But if one looked closely, the pattern looked like an eye drawn on.

Yu Zhen asked, “How did you notice?”

“The key point is in secretly watching. It’s not about the boss herself, but the details on her,” Su Mo explained. “When the boss raises her hand, that eye will randomly pick a person. If your gaze coincides with hers, she’ll target you.”

The assassins were at the back and could never see the boss’s hand drawing the eye. The only ones who could notice were those facing the main tank’s side, like them. Plus, the time the delicate woman spent raising her hand was too short. Everyone thought it was just a regular casting action, but in reality, it concealed the boss’s skill.

“Does accidentally looking at her result in being shackled?” ScarletFruit shuddered. “It’s a death sentence! Earlier, I felt sorry for her and wanted to save her.”

With the threat of the shackles gone, the team’s mood lightened somewhat.

Mewminati couldn’t help but ask, “Why is she pitiful? She just looks at you and takes your life.”

“Isn’t it the right thing to do when you see injustice?” ScarletFruit sighed. “You see her sitting alone in this lonely underground tunnel, wearing this ghostly thing, like she’s escaped from some dungeon, waiting for heroes like me to come and rescue her.”

ClearWind added, “And her words are strange too. We didn’t intentionally look at her. Clearly, she’s the one watching us, yet she talks as if it’s our fault for looking at her.”

“Leaving that aside, she speaks so gently in the first half of the sentence when she calls out, ‘Is it you?’ Then she becomes so indifferent in the second half. And now with two bosses, could this woman be playing mind games?” Apple speculated.

Upon hearing this, Su Mo suddenly paused. Two bosses, 50% health, 50% full health, wearing shackles, different tones before and after.

Seeing Su Mo’s silence, Yu Zhen stepped in to remind, “We’re at 60% health now. Watch out for the boss’s enhanced skills and the double snowfalls.”

“Got it,” ClearWind efficiently blocked the snow for Little Bear. “Look at this boss, acting even weaker after enhancing. She’s like a beautiful lotus flower in full bloom.”

The female assassin, who rarely spoke, asked, “Once we reach 50% health, how should we deal with the situation?”

They wondered if the boss’s skills would change after being at full health and if they could withstand the increased damage. During the frantic time, facing two bosses, which one should we focus our damage on? Everything was unknown, and others also had this doubt, but the team leader remained silent at this moment.

The time reached 11:20, and the boss’s health was at 55%.

Observing the situation, ScarletFruit said, “Bro, let’s not stress about it. At least we got the loot from the previous one. We won’t lose this round.”

“If we wipe, we’ll just try again,” ClearWind suggested, “SubmergedFish and Fruit, you guys keep an eye out and retreat if we can’t handle it, right?”

Apple added, “We’re doing pretty well. Let’s see what skills they have after 50%.”

ChatMasterWu commented, “This boss is really tricky.”

The boss’s health dropped to 52%.

“I have an idea, but it may not be right. Should we give it a try?” Su Mo spoke up at this moment.

Yu Zhen glanced at the summoner not far from him. The summoner continued to output damage steadily. The rhythm of output, which had slowed down earlier, picked up again. The summoner’s face showed no sign of retreat. In a moment, Yu Zhen had a feeling. He didn’t know when it started, but subconsciously, he believed that the summoner would never retreat. This person never stopped thinking, always grasping the details and finding the right solutions, as if he were a natural genius for games.

Hearing the command, the team breathed a sigh of relief.

LittleBear said, “You’re the leader. We’ll follow your lead.”

“Haha, I agree with that,” ChatMasterWu chuckled. “I’m not good at using my brain. I’ll leave it to you guys.”

The team unanimously agreed, and Su Mo cleared his throat slightly. “When the boss’s health reaches 51%, the main tank and melee professions should stop attacking. Ranged professions, focus on reducing the boss’s health. Be ready to stop casting at the first sign of the boss regenerating health.”

Everyone followed suit. When the boss reached 51%, melee professions ceased their attacks, but ranged professions continued to output damage.

As the health dropped, just as it was about to hit 50%, the entire underground passage fell into a strange silence. The boss’s health instantly returned to 100%. Despite ranged professions stopping their casts immediately, there were still some skills that couldn’t be retracted, causing a deviation between the boss’s health and its maximum value.

The boss, after regaining health, stood tall and looked around. Its eyes, filled with a hint of sorrow, unleashed two area-of-effect attacks, bringing the team’s health down to around 40%.

“Focus on healing, everyone else stay put,” Su Mo commanded coldly. “Let’s wait a bit longer.”

About ten seconds passed, but it felt like over ten minutes. No one dared to speak; they all stood in their places enduring the onslaught. Finally, the attacks ceased, and a soft female voice spoke up, asking the player in a familiar tone, “Is it you?”

There was no follow-up to this sentence.

Su Mo took the initiative, “It’s me. How can we save you?”

The other team members were left bewildered.

The frail woman looked at Su Mo, standing up straight, completely different from her previous weak appearance. “Courageous player in times of danger, are you willing to help me break free from these heavy shackles?”

[Special Mission Activated: Rescue the Frail Woman]

As the team leader, Su Mo accepted the mission on behalf of the entire team. He went over to take a look and found that the shackles on the frail woman were of an old lock type, without any prompts. It seemed like the type that required forced removal. “Does anyone know how to pick locks?”

Yu Zhen stepped forward, “I’ll do it.”

Su Mo looked at Yu Zhen with some surprise and voluntarily stepped aside to give him space. The Array Master knelt halfway in front of the frail woman, carefully examining the lock type. He took out a tool resembling a needle from his backpack and began attempting to unlock it.

After watching for a while, Su Mo noticed that the team was a bit quiet. “Oh, you guys can move.”

Everyone crowded around the frail woman, realizing that she wasn’t attacking anymore. She had a smile on her face, completely different from her previous look of sorrow and gloom.

“What the heck is going on?”

“Is this boss actually good?”

“If we unlock these shackles, will she turn around and attack us?”

Su Mo explained briefly, “No, she won’t.”

ScarletFruit said, “I’m confused. Is this person good or bad?”

“It’s my speculation,” Su Mo explained simply. “Based on the data from CloudTraveller’s team, when the boss reaches full health again after being reduced to 50%, two bosses appear. That means the frail woman is actually two individuals: one we encountered initially, and the other appears at 50% health. There are two points of suspicion: one is the different tone when calling out, and the other is the shackles. From the appearance of the boss itself, the first impression is that she is someone who needs help, and her name is also ‘frail woman’. The first point of suspicion is that when called out, instead of looking into her eyes, we look at the eyes on her wrist. The second point of suspicion is why someone wearing shackles would use shackles as an attacking skill?”

Su Mo continued, “Suppose there are two individuals, one good and one bad, inhabiting the same body. One needs to be rescued by us, while the other just wants to attack us. The real frail woman asks us, ‘Is it you?’ The fake one, upon discovering the clue, becomes angry and defensive, ‘xxx, are you secretly watching me.'”

Apple, puzzled by this explanation, asked after a moment of thought, “But according to your explanation, CloudTraveller’s team was also attacked when the boss was at 50% health. Would the real frail woman also use the shackle skill?”

Su Mo wasn’t surprised and continued addressing his concerns, “Your question was my initial suspicion. However, after the recent test, I understood the cunning of the mainframe mechanism. The reason CloudTraveller didn’t notice the problem is that the information about the two bosses only appeared later on. Initially, he just thought it was the boss regenerating health at 50%, without considering the possibility of real and fake. So, to conceal this in the early stages, the mainframe placed a mechanism similar to a counterattack skill on the real woman.”

The rest of the team suddenly realized why the summoner had instructed them to stop attacking earlier. Even though they were being attacked, they didn’t retaliate but instead waited for the boss’s skill to end.

“In simple terms, my deduction is this: the fake woman possesses a full set of skills and controls the real woman. The initial one was the fake woman, while the real one asked us for help with the question ‘Is it you?’. The fake one, upon discovering the clue, became angry and pointed out the player with shackles as an attack. By the time the boss reached 50% health, we can interpret that the fake woman was weakened, and at this point, the boss’s health being full represents a switch. The real woman, with a ‘counterattack mechanism’, then emerges,” Su Mo explained smoothly. “Because theoretically, the real woman is controlled by the fake one, so this counterattack mechanism is a skill of the fake woman. That’s why we couldn’t distinguish between the real and fake and kept attacking. Thus, the counterattack mechanism would continue to be effective. When the real woman, at full health, becomes the woman at 50% health, she’s weakened, and the fake one emerges again. As for why there are two instead of a replacement, we might have to wait for the plot to explain that.”

At that moment, Yu Zhen spoke up, “It’s unlocked.”

The heavy lock fell to the ground, turning into a black smoke that rushed deep into the earth. Everyone watched anxiously as the frail woman’s body gradually faded, finally appearing in front of them as a floating soul.

The frail woman surveyed all the players around her, her gaze carrying a hint of kindness. She spoke up voluntarily to explain, “I am the proprietress of the Desert Inn. Thank you for rescuing my soul. However, my physical body is still under its control and cannot be freed. Would you be willing to help me?”

ClearWind was suddenly stunned. “Beauty, so you’re the proprietress I’ve been looking for!?”

“Damn, why did a humanoid monster appear? So this is the proprietress?!” ScarletFruit exclaimed.

The proprietress briefly recounted the story of the Desert Inn, explaining how the Gate of the Apocalypse had opened, the demons had been unleashed, and the seal on the demon imprisoned beneath the Desert Inn had been broken. After returning from her travels, she resided in the inn. One night, while sleeping, she was dragged into the depths by the demon, who took her physical body and locked her soul with shackles, allowing her to roam the underground passageways aimlessly.

The shackles were imbued with the seal of the demon, causing her to completely lose control of her soul. The demon controlled her using her abilities as it pleased. Only when the seal weakened could she briefly regain control of her soul. However, as long as the shackles remained, attacking her would cause her soul to attack others uncontrollably.

If someone were willing to lay down their weapons and talk to her peacefully, she might have a chance at redemption. But if someone attacked her, she would eventually be weakened, her soul would overflow, and she would ultimately perish.

The players of the entire team understood this storyline. So, in the end, there were two bosses because both had been weakened, and did the proprietress’s soul overflow?

“Damn…” ScarletFruit suddenly shuddered. “So those snowflakes and such were actually skills released by the fake one controlling the proprietress? The proprietress is pretty impressive.”

ClearWind, still shaken, said, “It’s not the shackles; it’s the seal of the demon.”

“This mix of truth and falsehood is quite impressive.”

“In fact, if you understand the mechanics, this boss isn’t that difficult to defeat. Just ignore that eye and only deal with the Snowflake debuff. When the boss reaches 50% health, rescue the proprietress, right?”

“Is this difficulty level really high? Understanding the mechanics does make it simple to fight, but observing carefully to find this mechanism requires a lot of attention, doesn’t it?”

[Congratulations to the player for defeating the [Soul Lock Seal] and achieving the first completion of [Frail Woman]. Overall rating: S+, rewarded with [Desert Inn Equipment Chest] x1, and an additional 3000 points for the first completion of the demon.]

[Desert Inn Final Stage: Proceed to the depths of the underground passage, defeat the Soul Lock, and rescue the proprietress.]

“We’ve only been here for a short while, and we’ve already cleared two!”

“3000 points, there are so many rewards for the event dungeon.”

Connecting both bosses boosted everyone’s confidence, and they all looked towards the summoner in the corner.

“Boss, should we continue?” Apple asked.

Su Mo was organizing his inventory and looked up at the question, “No, let’s not.”

Suddenly, ScarletFruit and ClearWind had a bad feeling.

“It’s almost noon,” Su Mo glanced over the virtual inventory screen and spoke calmly, “I’m logging off first.”

ScarletFruit facepalmed. The newcomers were puzzled, “Big brother, we’re so close to completing the dungeon with just one boss left!!”

Yu Zhen, accustomed to this, was about to open the equipment chest when he received a private message from the summoner.

—— momo: Can you send the walkthrough to CloudTraveller for me? Thanks for the intel he provided.

Before he could reply, the team showed that the summoner had temporarily logged off. The other members were frozen in place, not understanding what was happening with the temporary offline message from the team member.

ScarletFruit calmly pulled ClearWind to sit down, and a poker table appeared in the underground passage. The others were puzzled.

“Well, you see, my big brother needs to have lunch and take a nap at noon. If everything goes smoothly, it’ll take an hour; if not, three hours,” ScarletFruit smiled brightly at the bosses, “We still have quite a bit of time. Are you bosses interested? It’s 50 gold per hand, and I’ll be the dealer.”